Past Events

LITTLE JUMBO CREATIVE MUSIC SERIES

Little Jumbo's creative music series functions as a cultural incubator—providing space for the genesis of new musical ideas. Every Monday and Tuesday, we showcase world-class musicians performing original, boundary-pushing work—completely free, no cover charge. This isn't background music; it's music in its purest form: live, unfiltered, and pushing the genre forward in real time. As an incubator, we create space where musicians explore new sonic territories and audiences encounter ideas they've never heard before. Democratizing access to exceptional art is who we are—it's the same philosophy behind everything we do.

Monday
October 13
2025

The Page Brothers Django Quartet

When four master stringsmen gather to channel the spirit of Django Reinhardt, expect the kind of musical magic that happens when tradition meets fearless innovation. The Page Brothers—Andy's jazz guitar sophistication meeting Zack's rhythmic prowess that's averaged 275 gigs per year since the '90s—anchor this drummerless exploration of gypsy jazz at its most sublime. Steve Trisman's fiddle brings the fire that transforms contra dance floors into celebrations, while Leo Johnson's golden-era gu...
Andy Page - Guitar
Steve Trisman - Fiddle
Leo Johnson - Guitar
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
October 12
2025

Authors in Conversation with Denise Kiernan and Andrew Lawler

CRAFT’s concept is simple: Denise Kiernan sits down with a writer in this speakeasy setting to discuss not only the writer’s latest publication, but also the craft of writing itself. For each featured author, the Little Jumbo staff will create a specialty cocktail—or mocktail—inspired by either the featured book or the author themselves. **WHO** Me, Denise, sitting down with authors from all walks—literary fiction, nonfiction, graphic novelists, mystery authors, romance writers, TV...
Andrew Lawler - Journalist / Author
Denise Kiernan - Author / Speaker
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
October 7
2025

Jay Sanders' Quintessence ft. Will Boyd, Alan Hall, & Danny Iannucci

**The Jay Sanders Quintessence** distills the pure essence of improvisational expression, where four musical alchemists converge to transmute sound into its most fundamental form. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the primordial substance from which all musical reality springs. Rooted in Taoist principles of interconnectedness, the Quintessence operates as a living system where individual consci...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Danny Iannucci - Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
October 6
2025

Soul Jazz Revival

Sometimes the most powerful revivals happen when five master musicians gather in an intimate room and decide to resurrect the soul that made jazz matter in the first place. Jacob Rodriguez's world-traveling baritone sax brings the grit of San Antonio streets and the polish of Grammy stages, ready to channel stories through reed and breath that connect Brooklyn underground scenes to Blue Ridge mountaintops. Quinn Sternberg anchors this sonic revival with bass lines that don't just walk—they pr...
Joe Enright - Drums
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Andy Page - Guitar
Alex Taub - Piano
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
September 30
2025

The Blingus Trio: Jeff Sipe, Quinn Sternberg & Jay Sanders

In the intimate confines of Little Jumbo Bar, three musical architects will converge to build sonic cathedrals from pure improvisation. The Blingus Trio brings together a trinity of Asheville's most innovative voices: Jeff "Apt. Q-258" Sipe, the Grammy-nominated rhythmic alchemist who transforms drum kits into interdimensional portals; Quinn Sternberg, the gravitational bass force whose four strings hold entire musical solar systems in perfect orbit; and Jay Sanders, the genre-defying guitari...
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Jeff Sipe - Drums
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Admission: FREE!
Monday
September 29
2025

Justin Ray with the Brian Felix Organ Trio

Justin Ray's trumpet doesn't announce itself with fanfare; it whispers invitations that pull you into the kind of musical dialogue where honesty is the only currency. This isn't flash or fury—this is a catalyst who makes every musician around him remember exactly why they fell in love with playing in the first place. Leading with the quiet confidence that only comes from truly listening, Ray creates gravitational fields where Monday nights transform into Asheville's best-kept secret. Behin...
Brian Felix - Organ
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
September 28
2025

Post-Helene: Remembering, Rebuilding, Reimagining Symposium Closing Celebration

**"[Post-Helene: Remembering, Rebuilding, Reimagining](https://www.posthelenesymposium.com)"** is a faculty-led, campus-wide, community-engaged symposium, funded by the NEH Professorship under the direction of Dr. William Bares (humanities/arts), with assistance from Dr. Megan Underhill (social sciences) and Dr. David Gillette (natural sciences). Spread across UNC Asheville's diverse academic environment and beyond, the three-day symposium offers a place for collective reflection on Helene's ...
Admission: FREE
Tuesday
September 23
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
September 22
2025

Jacob Rodriguez Quintet ft Jesse Lewis

September 22nd, Little Jumbo Bar becomes ground zero for a musical convergence that reads like jazz fiction: a Manhattan School of Music alum who's conquered everything from Brooklyn underground to Grammy stages, a guitarist the New York Times calls an "articulate ace," and three mountain maestros who've turned Asheville into a secret jazz laboratory. Jacob Rodriguez's baritone sax rumbles with the wisdom of San Antonio streets and Michael Bublé tours, while Jesse Lewis conjures sonic enviro...
Jesse Lewis - Guitar
Joe Enright - Drums
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Alex Taub - Piano
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
September 16
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
September 15
2025

The CORE

The Core represents everything essential about Asheville's jazz DNA distilled into five musicians who understand that the best ensembles aren't just collections of individual talents—they're alchemical reactions where individual voices merge into something greater than their sum. This quintet embodies the mountain city's unique musical ecosystem, where Blue Ridge authenticity meets sophisticated harmonic exploration, where the intimacy of local venues allows for the kind of musical risk-takin...
Evan Martin - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Bill Bares - Piano
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
September 14
2025

Denise Kiernan & Thomas Calder

Join us at Little Jumbo for CRAFT: Authors in Conversation, a series conceived and hosted by New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan. On September 14th, Denise's guest will be Thomas Calder, author of The Wind Under the Door and managing editor of Mountain Xpress. Doors open at 4:00 PM. Conversation starts no later than 4:30 PM. Seating is first come, first served. No registration is required. Little Jumbo staff creates a specialty cocktail or mocktail for each CRAFT event. ...
Thomas Calder - Author / Managing Editor
Denise Kiernan - Author / Speaker
Admission: FREE!
Saturday
September 13
2025

Saturday Night Dance Party

September 13th at Little Jumbo Bar, DJ Lil Meow Meow transforms Asheville's coziest corner into a sonic time machine where funk ancestors high-five electronic futures. This isn't your typical dance party—it's musical alchemy where vintage soul gets remixed with contemporary fire, and every beat drop feels like discovering a secret handshake between genres. Picture bodies moving like they're having conversations with the rhythm, while a feline-monikered maestro behind the decks reads the ...
DJ Lil Meow Meow -
Admission: $5
Tuesday
September 9
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
September 8
2025

Dr. Bill Bares presents the return of Hard Bop Explosion

Fans of the hard-hitting, iconic Blue Note jazz albums of the 1950s and 1960s will feel right at home with Hard Bop Explosion, a band dedicated to playing hits and rare grooves with authenticity and fire. The band ignited the Asheville scene at Tressas Jazz and Blues in 2012 and was the house band at the Isis from 2013-2015. This September, the band re-ignites at Little Jumbo with a new drummer and a decade’s worth of pent-up energy. Look out!
Joe Enright - Drums
Justin Ray - Trumpet
Bill Bares - Piano
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jacob Rodriguez - Saxophone
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
September 2
2025

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Will Boyd - Sax, Flute, Clarinet, EWI
Zack Page - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Jay Sanders - Guitar and Effects
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Monday
September 1
2025

Steve LaSpina

When a bass legend who's anchored Stan Getz, Jim Hall, and Chet Baker meets Asheville's most intimate jazz room, magic happens. Steve LaSpina brings four decades of New York City jazz mastery to Little Jumbo, joined by drummer Alan Hall (whose sticks have danced behind Lee Konitz across three continents), guitarist Dr. Tim Fischer (where USC precision meets street-level groove), and pianist Dr. Bill Bares (Harvard professor turned piano poet). This Labor Day evening promises the kind of mu...
Steve LaSpina - Bass
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Bill Bares - Piano
Alan Hall - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
August 26
2025

Jay Sanders, Will Boyd, Zack Page & Alan Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Admission: FREE!
Monday
August 25
2025

The CORE

Admission: FREE!
Saturday
August 23
2025
Tuesday
August 19
2025

Jay Sanders' Empyrean Trio featuring Zack Page & Alan Hall

The Empyrean Trio ascends to the highest sphere of musical expression, where Sanders, Page, and Hall commune in the celestial realm of pure improvisation. Like ancient philosophers who believed the empyrean was the highest heaven—a place of fire and light beyond the physical world—this trio inhabits the ethereal space where earthbound genres dissolve into transcendent musical dialogue. Their original compositions float between the terrestrial and the sublime, oscillating from groove-laden ...
Admission: FREE!
Monday
August 18
2025

Brian Felix

Admission: FREE!
Tuesday
August 12
2025

Jay Sanders, Will Boyd, Zack Page & Alan Hall

Sanders, Boyd, Page & Hall distill the pure essence of improvisational expression, converging as alchemists of sound, transmuting musical elements into their most essential forms. This quartet embodies the philosophical concept of quintessence—the fifth element beyond earth, air, fire, and water—representing the fundamental substance from which all musical reality springs. Their original compositions crystallize the essential qualities of diverse influences, oscillating between through-com...
Admission: FREE!
Monday
August 11
2025

Aaron Irwin TRIO

Aaron Irwin -  Saxophones & Clarinets Mike Baggetta - Guitar Bill Campbell - Drums
Admission: FREE!
Sunday
August 10
2025

Authors in Conversation with Denise Kiernan and Bonnie Kistler

CRAFT’s concept is simple: Denise Kiernan sits down with a writer in this speakeasy setting to discuss not only the writer’s latest publication, but also the craft of writing itself. For each featured author, the Little Jumbo staff will create a specialty cocktail—or mocktail—inspired by either the featured book or the author themselves. **WHO** Me, Denise, sitting down with authors from all walks—literary fiction, nonfiction, graphic novelists, mystery authors, romance writers, TV...
Admission: FREE!
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